Intercultural operations are performed between sowing and harvesting to control weeds, aerate the soil, and retain moisture. These operations are done using tools like hoes, cultivators, harrows, and rotary hoes. Weeding equipment can be classified based on power usage and includes hand hoes, animal-operated tools, and tractor-operated machines. A popular manual weeding tool is the hand hoe, which has an iron blade and wooden handle. The paddy weeder is used specifically for rice cultivation and has a frame with front and rear weeding rolls to uproot weeds while leaving the rice crop undisturbed. The wheel hoe and cono weeder are also

2. Intercultural Operations
• The operations performed in the field after sowing but before harvesting the crop are called as intercultural
operations.
• Interculturing is described as breaking the upper surface of soil, uprooting the weeds (unwanted plants),
aerating the soil, there by promoting the activities of micro organism and making good mulch, so that
moisture inside the field is properly retained from evaporation.. These operations are accomplished by
means of many tools and equipments, such as hoes, cultivators, harrows, rotary hoes etc.

3. WEEDING EQUIPMENTS
Classification of based on power usage
1. Hand hoe
A. Japan harrow
B. Wheel hoe
C. Star weeder
2. Animal operated
3. Tractor operated

4. Hand hoe is the most popular manually operated weeding tool use in the farm.
 It consists of an iron blade and a wooden handle. The operator holds the handle and cuts
the soil with the blade to a shallow depth of 2-3 cm thereby weeds are cut and soil is stirred.
The handle is short (30-40cm long) hence the operator uses the tool in bending posture.
The coverage is 5-7 cents per day.
The shape and size of hoe vary-from place to place.

6. PADDY WEEDER
• It is important equipment for inter-culture used in paddy cultivation.
• It is used for uprooting weeds and burying them in puddle soil between rows of standing paddy crop.
• It improves aeration of soil. It consists of frame, weeding roll, the tines, float and handle (fig.).
• The frame is made of mild steel to which float, front and rear weeding rolls and angle regulator are attached.
• Weeding roll with fingerlike projections does the weeding operation in water.
• There are two weeding rolls one to front and other at rear and both are made of mild steel. Float, made of mild
steel, is placed in front of weeding roll that helps in maintaining easy sliding motion during operation.

7. Wheel hoe
The wheel hoe is a widely accepted weeding tool for weeding and intercultural in row crops.
It is a long handled tool operated by pushes and pull action.
The general construction of wheel hoe comprises of a wheel, tool frame, a set of replaceable tools and a
handle different types of soil working tools such as straight blade, V -blade, sweep, shovel, etc.
Can be used for different works namely weeding , soil mulching, stirring etc.
Long handle reduces drudgery to operator. Wheel reduces energy requirement for pushing.
 All the soil working components of the tool are made from medium carbon steel.
The coverage is 0.05 ha/day.
It is a hoe with one or two wheels.
It is useful for kitchen gardens.

9. CONO WEEDER
• Cono weeder is useful for uprooting and burying weeds in line planted rice fields in wetlands. It disturbs the topsoil and
increases aeration. This facilitates better growing environment to the crop.
• The weeder consists of a long handle, two numbers of truncated conical rollers, and a float. The rollers are fitted at the
bottom of the handle in opposite direction one behind other. The conical rollers have serrated blades on the periphery.
• When the weeder is operated in between two rows of standing crop, the rollers up root the weeds and burry them.
• Cono weeder operation triggers root growth. The float prevents the unit from sinking into the soil. Soil should be moist
and little firm at the time of using the weeder, the coverage is 0.05 ha/day.